Thursday, January 23, 2014

Describe the following key areas of diversity and their characteristics: culture, race, and ethnicity; disability; religious and spiritual beliefs; transgender and intersex; and generational.

Diversity and these aspects are sociological by nature. The study of society and the demographic, social, cultural, and generational differences fits right into the field of sociology. Therefore, when thinking about diversity and the different aspects that affect the nature of a group, society, or business, it is vital to understand these terms in the sociological paradigm.
Culture
Culture is the specific aspects of a group of people. Culture can be seen as monolithic, like the culture of an entire country, or compartmentalized, like the culture of a family or neighborhood. Generally, culture is made up of different parts and aspects, like arts, foods, beliefs, education, politics, and so on. Culture is one of the most over-arching of the terms you identified.
Race
Race is a complex concept. It can refer to the physiological characteristics that derive from the genetic similarity of a specific group of people. For example, skin color is a physiological characteristic that could be determined as “race.” However, other factors contribute or can contribute, like the place of origin, language spoken, and cultural background that can contribute to how one race is distinct from another. Nearly every determination of race is arbitrary, being determined by social factors rather than some objective measure.
Ethnicity
Ethnicity is similar to race, but it carries with it a cultural/social component. For example, an ethnic group might be of similar or diverse genetic makeup, but they probably share other factors like language, religion, geographic origin, or national affiliation. Ethnicity relies far more on sociological factors than on physiological traits.
Disability: A physical, mental, or emotional issue that prevents a person from operating in a typical fashion. The term disability implies that the issue holds someone back from success—but that definition is contentious. Often, disabilities create subcultures within the larger ableist culture they exist within—like deaf culture or the creation of the special olympics.
Religious
This means a person, group of people, or organization that participates in some spiritual belief. The level of spiritual participation will vary, but that generally doesn’t discount a person from identifying as part of a specific religious group. Religions have a significant impact on culture in their holidays, moral and legal systems, forms of government, and socially acceptable behavior. Some people identify as being areligious, meaning they do not ascribe to any religion and are likely atheists or agnostic.
Spiritual Beliefs
The belief that a person holds to be true is a spiritual belief. Generally, spiritual beliefs are seen as transcendent, something that goes beyond the physical world and exists with the truth. Individuals hold spiritual beliefs, and those beliefs are important to protect in a diverse society or workplace.
Transgender
This is an individual who is or has transitioned to a different gender than they were assigned at birth. Transgender people often face oppression and hate from different groups based on moral codes, religious beliefs, or other prejudices that exist. A transgender individual represents a part of the diverse sexual/gender orientation spectrum that exists in many societies, countries, and organizations.
Inter-sex
These are people who are born with sexual characteristics from both the xx and xy chromosome sets. Rather than being physiologically male or female, they may have sexual organs that are typical of both. In the past, and among certain cultural groups, there is surgery done when a baby is born to alter their sexual organs to fit either male or female. This practice has a wide range of consequences that have since helped inform the issue of reassignment at birth.
Generational
This is the change of an idea or practice from one generation to another in a culture. Generations are typically described as 20 years, and something is seen as generational when it is particular to the culture of a single generation. For example, Millenials are seen as people born between 1980 and 1996, and they share some generational traits with others born in the generation, like growing up in the 2008 financial crisis, taking on large amounts of student loan debt, increasing atheism, and decreased fertility rates.


Cultural diversity refers to people who have the same color skin, but come from different cultural backgrounds. A great example can be taken from South Africa, where English and Afrikaans people are indistinguishable based on physical appearance, but come from vastly different cultural backgrounds.
Racial diversity refers to people from different racial groups, which can generally be identified by skin color.
Diversity in terms of disability means being inclusive of people who have physical challenges such as blindness, deafness and being confined to a wheelchair. The term can also refer to mental or psychological challenges in various contexts.
Diversity in terms of religion and spiritual beliefs go hand in hand, and refer to the fact that people have different beliefs in deities—such as Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Transgender refers to somebody whose birth sex does not match the gender with which they associate.
Intersex refers to a person who is born with a body that does not fit with the typical definitions of either male or female.
Last on your list is generational diversity, which refers to people of different ages—from children to the elderly.
https://isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex


Many institutions, including universities, government branches, and businesses, now believe that they can benefit from incorporating various forms of diversity. In all these institutions, that may mean both diversity among staff and addressing diverse clients or stakeholders. Most institutional leaders understand that a diverse staff may be more effective at serving a diverse client body as well as bringing to the institution fresh ideas and perspectives. There are several types of diversity that institutions aim for:
Ethnicity: The ethnic makeup of institutions should be similar to that of the people they serve at all levels. This means, for example, that a retailer that sells to people of all ethnicities needs to have Hispanic, African American, Asian American, Native American, and other ethnic groups represented at all corporate levels, including the C-suite (the top executives).
Gender: Gender diversity or inclusivity means not just balancing men and women but also inclusion of LGBTQ, transgender, intersex, and non-binary people at all levels.
Religion: In the United States, freedom of religion also means acceptance of religious diversity. That means that institutions need to understand and have employees representing members of diverse traditions, including Islam, Judaism, atheism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Often, such religious traditions can affect everything from scheduling (for example, not having important events on Jewish holy days) to catering (offering halal, kosher, and vegan options).
Disability: Since the passage of the ADA, making accommodations for various forms of disability has been required by law. More recently, activists have been interested in the issue of "neurodiversity," arguing that people with different ways of perceiving the world (those on the autism spectrum, for example) may bring uniquely valuable perspectives or ways of approaching problems.
Culture: The category of culture, which may include class as well as national origin, is also an area in which institutions in a global economy need to have diversity and expertise. For example, a company sourcing components from China needs staff who understand Chinese culture. A retailer selling across the US needs to know the differences in culture and buying habits between New York City and rural Kansas.

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